Berlin Art Institute - Artist Residency
In February 2020 I packed my paint brushes and my coffee shop stained cash and headed to Berlin to attend an Arts Residency at the Berlin Art Institute. This trip was primarily funded by my Yulgilbar Traveling Fellowship, awarded through the Grafton Regional Gallery.
I had hoped for the best, but could not have anticipated the amazing experiences I had and shared with fellow artist whilst on this residency. Being able to viably spend a month + solidly working on my art and ideas was life changing.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic was prevalent during my entire stay and ended up cutting my stay in Berlin short, but that in itself made my whole experience something that could never be replicated again.
My practice has definitely changed and developed through the use of this trip and time, and I continue to grow and progress my learning and skills of both my own interpretation of art and that of the world structured by society.
BERLIN ART INSTITUTE - CONCEPT
There is hardly any other city whose creative and unconventional atmosphere attracts so many artists and young talents as Berlin. The BERLIN ART INSTITUTE grasps itself as part of this vibrant scene. As an independent location for artistic practice, discourse, and research, the BAI makes use of the large selection of national and international artists in Berlin, generating its temporary and regular partners from this pool to make a broad and flexible program offer and individually respond to the needs of its participants.
The BAI provides all participants with a workplace, individual supervision, courses, projects, lectures, workshops, and an interdisciplinary discussion forum. Our concept is based on the discourse and engagement with the individual artistic work, in which we and our lecturers and colleagues are involved. Our regular events with alternating artists, critics, curators etc. facilitate an exchange between the BAI participants and actors of contemporary art in Berlin and provide important stimuli and constructive critique in regard to maintaining and freely developing one’s own artistic position.
With its concept of a production site, an innovative arts incubator and international artist residency, the BAI pursues the vision of advancing the relationship between art, cultural exchange and training as a process of consciousness-raising in which the participants can discover and emancipate themselves. The BAI banks on a constructive and critical discourse on a par with all persons involved, whether beginners or professionals.